As part of our campaign to spread the message of change and action for human rights, we invite you to join our virtual event ‘Standing Side By Side With Human Rights Defenders’. During this event you will have the opportunity to meet three human rights defenders that took part in Shelter City. They will share with you the challenges they have been facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic; how their countries and the countries in their regions have responded to the spread of the virus; and how we can support them in their work. You will also have the chance to get in a conversation with them and ask your own questions.

SPEAKERS:

Genesis Davila, Human rights lawyer from Venezuela

Shibolo Awali, Lawyer and LGBTI rights defender from Uganda

Asha Kowtal, Dalit women’s rights defender from India

This discussion will be moderated by Tessa de Ryck, Security Training Coordinator for HRDs at Justice and Peace. The event will be in English.

On 30 April 2020 the UN Human Rights Council held a virtual informal conversation on the human rights implications of the COVID-19 crisis with representatives of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures mandate holders.

The special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with the mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. The Coordination Committee, composed of six Special Procedures mandate holders, aims to enhance coordination among mandate holders and to act as a bridge between them, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the broader United Nations human rights framework and civil society.

….Anita Ramasastry, Chairperson of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, noted that the Coordination Committee had helped create a dedicated COVID-19 web page, which it hoped would become over time a living repository of guidance and advice to States on good practice. The Special Procedures mandate holders had risen to the challenge and through their powerful statements, actions and innovations promoted a human rights-based approach to addressing this crisis, said Ms. Ramasastry. They attempted to help States to ensure that policies and decisions taken during the crisis were consistent with human rights.

Dainius Pûras, Special Rapporteur on the right to health said advances in biomedical sciences were very important to realize the right to health during this pandemic, but equally important were human rights. The way to the effective management of the pandemic was the application of the principles of non-discrimination, participation, empowerment and accountability to all policies. He also stressed the importance of access to reliable and accurate information and the protection of the right to privacy, including in the use of technologies to track the spread of the virus.

In the ensuing discussion, speakers welcomed the guidance provided by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure that States’ responses complied with human rights obligations. They asked what steps had been taken to ensure the lifting of unilateral and illegal coercive measures, which violated human rights. Any measures to counter the pandemic should be necessary and proportionate, pursue legitimate purposes, and comply with international norms. Respect for human rights was vital, not only for the emergency response phase, but also during the post-crisis recovery. Speakers noted that emergency powers had been used to enact repressive measures that may have the effect of silencing dissent. They stressed the importance of upholding economic, social and cultural rights, including issues related to access to housing and food. It was hard to find a more striking example of the interconnectedness of rights than this crisis.

In conclusion, Mr. Pûras said lessons still had to be drawn from this pandemic. However, lots of lessons learned from previous public health crises could be applied today to address the current crisis. The AIDS epidemic, for instance, had shown that a human rights-based approach was most effective. It should also be noted that the current crisis had revealed the weakness of healthcare systems, including in some developed countries, which would have to be addressed.

The webcast of this informal virtual conversation is available on demand on UN Web TV, while summaries of the discussion in English and French can be found on the United Nations Office at Geneva News and Media page.

Recent research has shown that many human rights defenders are suffering PTSD, depression, and burnout as a result of the risks and stress of their work. Without adequate mental health support for activists, it could be difficult to sustain the human rights movement at a time when threats and risks of activism are increasing. How can funders take the wellbeing of activists into account through their funding? What are good practices to ensure that funders are doing no harm, and what are the options for actively supporting the resilience of activists to continue their work? Join the Human Rights Funders Network and Ariadne for a webinar on 20 September2019 10:00am EST to learn more about the findings of the research and hear from peer donors about their efforts to integrate an awareness of wellbeing into their work.

Speakers:

Adam Brown, Associate Professor of Psychology, New School for Social Research

The background to this interesting topic is the converging and diverging principles of secular human rights goals and religious values. On the one hand, there are historical and contemporary instances in which oppressors have used religious doctrines to endorse discrimination and violence against marginalized groups. Around the world, people continue to suffer daily from these acts of hate. Yet, many faith leaders from a range of religions denounce religiously motivated violence and actively work to combat human right abuses around the world. Some of history’s most impactful activists—El Salvador’s Oscar Romero, India’s Mahatma Gandhi, Iran’s Shirin Ebadi, the United States’ Martin Luther King drew upon their personal faith to promote civil rights and peace.

Today, many faith leaders and faith-based organizations have become leaders in human rights activism and humanitarianism, both locally and internationally. In Northern Uganda, the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative has united faith leaders to advocate for peace and strengthen the peacebuilding process in the wake of the region’s devastating civil war. Rabbis for Human Rights supports human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories by performing acts of solidarity with Palestinians suffering from the Occupation, organizing interfaith dialogues, and educating their fellow community members on the interconnectedness of Judaism and human rights. Musawah is global human rights movement working to advance women’s rights in Muslim contexts, using Islamic teachings and universal human rights doctrinal frameworks to guarantee equality in the lived realities of men and women. Each of these organizations has incorporated their faith into action-based human rights movements that demonstrate their accountability in practicing what they preach: dignity, justice, and fairness for all humanity.

Faith leaders and organizations can contribute to strengthening human rights around the globe by countering voices of oppressors, mediating conflicts to end or avoid violence, denouncing discrimination, organizing humanitarian assistance, and so much more. Just as faith communities may thrive in environments where each member’s dignity and rights are recognized, the international human rights movement may learn from engaging communities with deeply rooted ethical and spiritual foundations. In March of 2017, the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights launched “Faith for Rights,” an initiative to strengthen the interconnectedness of the world’s religions and human rights. In the subsequent Beirut Declaration, participating faith-based and civil society actors recognized their mutual commitment to “upholding the dignity and the equal worth of all human beings.” Across the world, faith leaders and faith-based organizations can be valuable allies in achieving universal human rights for all.

In this conversation, New Tactics seeks to discuss the role of faith in promoting human rights across the globe and strategies for strengthening partnerships between secular and religious human rights defenders. The Conversation Leaders are:

Strategic thinking is a discipline used in all types of work. In order to build a house, you need a plan. In order to win votes to get elected for a political position, you need a plan. Human rights work is no exception – in order to make change, you need a plan and hopefully, it’s a good one!. New Tactics in Human Rights wants to build a collection of strategic-thinking resources and tools for human rights defenders to help in the selection and application of successful tactics. They have been working closely with human rights defenders in the Middle East and North Africa region to share a methodology to apply strategy and tactics to human rights work, and are eager to share with you the tools they have been using.

New Tactics in Human Rights knows that many others have been developing and using tools and resources, some that have been shared online. New Tactics in Human Rights would like to collect and share these resources on its website. If there are any that you have found to be really useful in your work you can share your ideas, resources and tools in the open forum on: New Tactics in Human Rights.

From Monday 14 – Friday 18 January 2013 Tactical Dialogue and New Tactics in Human Rights are organizing again an on-line conversation on Using Humor to Expose the Ridiculous.

All over the world, human rights activists use humour, irony, satire, parody and lampooning to express dissent and challenge the absurdities of institutional power.

They expose the lies, deceptions and sheer absurdities in their speech.

However, this is not without risks, which are particularly high in times of political turmoil.

So how exactly do activists in different parts of the world use humor to take on institutional power? How do they choose their tactics? What are the challenges they face in their work? And how do they overcome them? This online conversation will be an opportunity to exchange experiences, lessons-learned and ideas among practitioners using humor to challenge regimes and societies, and provoke citizens to reevaluate the way they think, and sometimes even push them to join them in their campaigns.

A few years ago, the same organizations hosted a conversation on a topic similar to this month’s conversation. It was called “Tactical that Tickle: Laughing all the way to the win”. Lessons from that exercise are available on-line via: